Reedley College

Location

Reedley, CA

Situation

Reedley College, a public community college located in Fresno County on the historic site of the T.L. Reed Ranch, is part of the California Community Colleges system within the State Center Community College District. Serving over 15,000, more than 80% of Reedley’s student body identify as Latino, Latina, and LatinX. Reedley College is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in California.

Dr. Eve Castellanos is the CalWORKs Coordinator at Reedley College and she also works to advance basic needs efforts on the campus. She collaborates with many others on campus including Student Activities, Financial Aid, and other student service programs and in the community including the Marjaree Mason Center, the County’s domestic violence service provider. As detailed below, there are numerous efforts underway to offer education, support, and resources to the student body at Reedley and the community. Eve was in search of an evidenced-based program to assist in connecting these initiatives to create and maintain a better and safer college community for all.

Below is an overview of the various initiatives underway with interconnected goals:

1. Advancing basic needs - A focus of CalWORKs is to break cycles of poverty by supporting students who are parents advance their education to become gainfully employed and financially self-sufficient. Advancing basic needs addresses food and housing insecurities, as well as connecting students with other resources, such as mental health and other services. By addressing and meeting basic needs first, people can then focus on persisting to advance their education.
2. Guided Pathways - an initiative spearheaded by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office intended to forge clear paths for students and remove systemic obstacles to their success and improve the retention and success rates of disproportionately impacted populations (“DI populations”). Guided Pathways is being implemented by all 116 of the community colleges in California, based on data that is available for each college to identify its DI populations. As part of the Guided Pathways directive, Reedley is focused on its DI populations which include the LGBTQIA community and traditionally marginalized, low-income students.
3. Preventing and addressing Dating and Domestic Violence by collaborating with the Marjaree Mason Center - Through this partnership between the Reedley College CalWORKs Program, Student Activities, and the Marjaree Mason Center, initiatives are underway to welcome community members and students to join in weekly support groups to discuss and understand healthy relationships. Formats encourage participation via Zoom, in person and office drop-in hours to provide trauma informed services and reduce feeling stigmatized or ashamed due to the effects of dating and domestic violence. “Healthy Relationships: +Plus One” is a 12-week program offered as part of the 18-week Reedley College semester that focuses on a different discussion topic each week.
4. Resources – Title IX Coordinators - The State of California has mandated that all California Community Colleges hire a Title IX Coordinator for resources to be available to students. The Know Your Power campaign helps to inform students of their protected rights under Title IX and encourages them to reach out to the Title IX Coordinator if they feel those rights have been impeded due to discrimination or harassment.
5. 'Wraparound' Programs - The Reedley community has unique characteristics and challenges that are recognized and embraced by Eve and her role as an educational practitioner in a rural community college. Recognizing the ‘whole’ person juggling many roles and responsibilities including student, worker, caregiver, and parent. The goal of these wraparound programs is to recognize the unique demands of individuals and understanding their needs, beyond those of just being a student. When such Reedley students see themselves, feel acknowledged and understood, they engage and their sense of belonging increases.

Soteria Solutions — Know Your Power® and Connecting Collegewide Initiatives

Finding Know Your Power

As a Doctor of Educational Leadership, Eve sought a research-based program to heighten awareness, build knowledge, and create willingness to safely act. It was important that the solution could be adapted to the unique character of Reedley and be easily implemented. Through her research she discovered Soteria Solutions and the Know Your Power program for colleges.

Why Reedley College Selected Know Your Power

•  Evidenced-based solution based on decades of research.
•  Customizable for the Reedley College community including using the school colors, selecting the scenarios that would speak most to the student community and the ability to translate the scenarios to Spanish to resonate with the students.
•  Flexible to choose the most relatable and relevant scenarios while working with the funding secured via a state community college grant.

Implementing Know Your Power at Reedley College

Reedley was awarded a mini-grant to invest in a bystander intervention marketing program to increase awareness and encourage engagement on campus. Eve’s vision was to implement this program as the highly visible campaigns to connect the above six initiatives together. Know Your Power became the connection to help the “DI populations” feel validated, valued, and respected while helping others understand the importance of empathy, kindness, and inclusion.

The Know Your Power program includes a set of marketing campaigns portraying realistic and provocative scenarios to help students heighten awareness, knowledge, and create willingness to safely act. With input from the student body, the campaigns and scenarios were selected and customized to reinforce the above initiatives.

Timing

Fall 2022

Elements of the KYP Program at Reedley College

• Campaigns focused on:
  • date rape
  • harassment specific to the LBGTQIA community
  • healthy relationships
  • men holding other men accountable for their actions.
• Over 70 Customized Know Your Power posters
  • Customized to the Reedley Tigers colors
  • Versions in English and Spanish
  • Prominently displayed across the Reedley Campus
    • Academic areas including academic advisors’ offices, the library, the reading and writing center, and the math center
    • Resident Hall
    • Student center, financial aid, and the student Welcome Cente

Results

There is great excitement for the start of a new school year with the majority of students back on campus after the pandemic. Reedley College is fortunate to have an invested and collaborative team working together to reach as many students as possible as well as the greater population to advance basic needs, promote healthy relationships, and foster a college community where all feel respected, welcome, and valued.

While evaluation of the program will require more time to measure, early indicators are the Know Your Power messages are resonating and are accomplishing the goal of prompting conversation while availing resources to support students to act and be agents of change.